A case of postoperative recurrent gastric cancer resembling esophageal achalasia diagnosed by staging laparoscopy

Abstract

A 65-year-old man underwent subtotal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. The histological type of the cancer was signet-ring cell carcinoma, and the clinical stage was stage IB (T2N0M0). Three years after surgery, the patient had the following symptoms:dysphagia, odynophagia, and weight loss. Esophageal endoscopy and esophagography revealed a circular stenosis covered with the normal mucosa between the middle esophagus and the esophagogastric junction. Histologically, the samples obtained by staging laparoscopy revealed signet-ring cell carcinoma. Tucker's criteria are an important tool for differentiating secondary achalasia from primary achalasia with clinical value. Therefore, we suggest that staging laparoscopy is useful for the histological diagnosis of recurrent gastric cancer.